What a ballot measure means for your pets and vet bills

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – Colorado’s ballot for the November election is packed with proposals and amendments, and one of them aims to make a decision about the care of your pets at the vet’s office.

Proposition 129 asks voters to approve the creation of a new profession in the veterinary profession. Veterinary Professional Associates (VPAs) would serve as mid-level professionals in the current environment. Currently, only two job titles allow a person to provide medical care to animals. These are veterinary technicians, who require two years of training, and veterinary doctors, who require at least eight years of training.

Advocates have tried to establish the VPA role through state legislation in recent years, but the bill has been defeated.

Advocates say a mid-level position is needed to address the shortage of veterinary care. A veterinarian explains an obvious deficiency in a clinic she supervises:

“Every day we tell people who have pets whose illnesses are likely to kill or cause extreme pain that day that there is nothing we can do for them and that we have nowhere to refer them,” Dr. Apryl Steele, a veterinarian and president and CEO of the animal welfare nonprofit Dumb Friends League. “We need to do better for our pets.”

Steele also says that 71% of veterinarians turn away animals weekly because they don’t have room in their calendars and that “they regularly make economic euthanasia decisions, which is their greatest source of stress.”

Opponents say that such a shortage of care no longer exists today.

“Immediately after the pandemic, we had long waiting times. I can’t refute that. However, current data from late 2023 and 2024 actually shows that the vast majority of veterinary clinics are able to treat patients within one to two days, if not the same day,” said Dr. Melanie Marsden, veterinarian and owner of Pikes Peak Veterinary Clinic. “The argument that we can’t get patients treated is simply no longer valid.”

Proponents say setting up a space for a VPA in a veterinary office would be akin to the role of a medical assistant in a human doctor’s office.

“[VPAs] are supervised by the same disciplinary committee and are subject to the same standards of care as a veterinarian. “You work under the supervision of a veterinarian and the training is actually very in-depth,” Steele said. “The fear expressed there that these people are unqualified and will harm animals is absolutely untrue.”

But opponents say that comparing the human health model to that of veterinary practices in this context is like comparing apples to oranges. One difference between the two is that human medical assistants cannot perform surgical procedures, but VPAs are allowed to perform many surgical procedures.

“I worry that the people who emerge from these programs will not have the skills to anticipate an event and respond appropriately to a crisis,” Marsden said. “If you don’t know what to do in a surgical crisis, your patient may not go home.”

Proponents say your vet bills would likely be lower if VPAs came into play. Steele says that’s because many of the tasks veterinarians perform now would then be taken over by VPAs, who would be paid less than veterinarians.

Opponents say the cost of care would likely rise. When it comes to human health care, Marsden says physician assistants often order a lot of lab tests that can quickly become expensive, and she anticipates VPAs may be inclined to do the same.

If Prop 129 passes, graduates of the new curriculum would not be eligible for employment until 2027 at the earliest.

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